The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1887-01-21

'tiy iltiS, very niue lhuttu, Unless ~ j
accompanied by a moral refining Of The
life, and by a sturdy attempt to improy,
intellectually and morally
Now this being the case, We have fell
that the emphasis Of the ethical societies
should not be ON the platform alone; that
We should not only listen to addresses from
the platform on the great questions of the
day, but that the vital thing to do is to in
troduce among the members of the society
this spirit of self-reform. Hence the socie-
ty has been divided into several sections, =
/ the home section, the business mems sec
/ ton and the young mems section.
This home section especially is, or
! sh ould be, the heart of the society and
embraces questions full Of the deepest
moment to you all, which should be CON
stantly considered. Such questions, for
instance, as what methods of punishment
should we apply in training our children.
had once the privilege Of address
ing you on that subject and of
| speaking of few of the heads of this
deeply important question; but to exhaust
it would take years and years. To make
the ideas there suggested or other ideas
that might be suggested really fruitful, it
is not enough to tell the lecturer on this
subject from tie platform to come and adj
dress you. The parents must come them
selves with practical suggestions on the
questions. and bring them up and consult
with one another how such questions are
to be met; how in given eases al intract-
able child is TO be brought to reason how
4 child that is not strictly truthful shall be
cured of that vice, and how obstinacy
should be met in children. These are
questions of the utmost moment. and who
is more interested in them than the moth
ers of The society? Seek enlishtment by
comparing ycar experiences with one
another Occasionally ask persons who
have given these questions special study to
come before you and give you hints. That
would be food for your home secticn meet
ings possibly for months and years.
Then there is the question SO closely
touching the home life. of the sources of
unhappiness i'll homes: Of the right rela-
lions between husband aud wife. These
are questions which should be fairly met
The women of the society are deeply in
terested about it. There are depths be-
You'd depths which could be touched on
and which should be fairly and sqnarely
L., al r
are the right relations between husband
and wife ,
Then there are other questions of equal
Importance, whether the methods of the
household life or their external side, the
drndgery of the household life. cannot be
changed whether by some system of co.
operation it might not be possible to re-
leve many everburdened housewives Of
something OF their care. These, and a
thousand other questions, should form,
imagine, the staple of the meetings in the
home section.
And as to the business mems section,
word. The meetings Of that section have
not proved altogether as satisfactory to
some of the members rs they had desired.
The reason is very obvious. The vices of
the business life are due to the sharp strug-
gle OF competition. The object of the bus
mess mems section was to consider the
vices inherent in the business life, and also
to see whether 4 code of honor could not
DE framed among the members Of the So
ciety which should exalt them above these
practices, which the moral sense of better
minds condemn; but the meetings have in
that respect not led to the results anticipa-
ted; and naturally, because the deep
source of these vicious and vitating prac-
tees is due to the system under which we
live, and it is hardly to lie hoped that any
great change can come until the system
itself is in some measure changed.
should therefore advise for the business
mems section that economic questions
should receive the more prominent atten-
ton, and not only economic questions in
general should be studied. but that they
should consider whether there is not some
thing that we can ds Immediately and at
once 20 change the unfortunate social CON
ditions under which we are suffering.
In New York we are at present attacking
the question of child labor in factories
We do no. purpose to offer a panacea
for the solution of the social problem
That is altogether too big an undertaking
We do not. on the other hand. propose to
fold our hands and do nothing. and
advise others Ia do nothing. We want to
attack first the questions that seem most
capable of solution. and the one thing that
strikes us as most urgently needed now is
to save young children from being ground
down. as they are in American factories
TO save child life, to save the growing gem
Grafton Of working men, to prevent the de
generation of the races of American work
ingmen to save them from being sent too
early to work. so that they may not be-
come physically degenerate, and So that
they may not become ignorant: because
Ignorance in the working classes means
the utmost danger TO our social and poiltl-
cal inst buttons. Given an ignorant class,
and no sane and sound solution of the ques-
ton is possible Given a race of working
men educated at least up to the fourteenth
year in the public schools in 4 rational way,
4 .r,a... j., l.N,na that tl,as.a moro iptplli-